MHUD – Ô Calypso (Live Mastoïd)
Why’s everyone so bummed out nowadays? Why are there only sad songs, seemingly, being written and chanted by the masses? Maybe it’s nothing, and it’ll all go away soon.
Or, perhaps, everyone’s been hit by the same realisation, by an internal signal that is telling them that the modern world’s gone wrong, that it’s about to spin out of control and that we all risk going down with it once it falls off its axis.
Pop music doesn’t just reflect that melancholy. Often, it also reflects the idea that we, as modern humans, deserve everything right away, including a chorus meant to pacify us. MHUD is done living up to these standards, and giving people what they think that they need.
The future’s owned by those able to see beyond the patterns with which they’ve become accustomed. “Ô Calypso” is a song that builds slowly and toward a certain disaster, just like the travel route of the modern world. It’s a song constructed using poetic lyrics, exotic, South American-inspired grooves, and all the time in the world.
Strange Vine – Brighter Than the Sun
I still get a frisson of excitement each time that I hear music that I know nothing about. I get a thrill out of discovering something that the world had previously held secret from me, and, naturally, I wonder just in what way this exploration of music will affect my life. I trust that you, fellow music fans, feel the same.
There’s only one thing that can negatively impact this experience. It’s when the music comes accompanied by too much information, something that in the world of modern music marketing happens all too often. Fortunately, Strange Vine opts to create a musical enigma instead, the best possible decision.
This also fits the band’s style of music. “Brighter Than the Sun” is designed with retro psychedelic-rock tones and visuals in mind. The drum patterns, riffs and melodies across this move in circular patterns work to hypnotise you, force you to try and see what is not easy to gaze at. Strange Vine is just the kind of psych-rock that a Summer of exploration deserves.
